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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Writing on Wednesday! Writers Read

Writers Read

If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write. ~ Stephen King

We’ll be talking a lot about writing here, but I’m going to launch the Wednesday feature of my new "Writers and Other Animals" blog with some comments on reading. Why? Because serious writers read, and read a lot – not just in terms of quantity, but in terms of variety, too. I don’t mean that we all have to read everything. Zombies and werewolves don’t normally grab me – which on one at least one level is a good thing! – but occasionally I've found a gem when I've strayed from my literary comfort zone. There’s Ursula LeGuin’s terrific short fiction, "The Wife’s Story," for instance, which I reread every so often and recommend highly. I wouldn’t normally gravitate toward Westerns, but then there’s that ultimate Western by Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, which I think of as the Great American Novel. Apocalyptic dystopias don’t normally thrill me, but I couldn’t put The Hunger Games down.

When I hear someone – especially an aspiring writer – diss an entire genre or subject, I wonder how they can be so certain that there’s nothing there worth learning, and possibly even savoring. If nothing else we can learn what not to do if we don’t like a piece of writing. At least we can if we look at it closely before we toss is in the recycle bin. Better yet, we can figure out what does work, especially if it’s a popular book or author. I’m not suggesting that we write to please the masses (whoever they are), but it’s really hard to see the flowers along a path if we have our noses too high in the air.

My books of choice are usually (in no particular order) literary fiction, narrative nonfiction (especially nature and travel writing and memoirs that are about more than me me me), mysteries and thrillers, nonfiction about animals, and books about writing and art. But if you have read something terrific outside my usual picks, let me know – I might give it a try!

I can’t list all the books I love. The list would never be finished, and you’d run screaming when you saw how long it is. Instead, I’m going to list ten of my favorite books on writing, again in no particular order. It’s not a definitive list, just ten books that I have found useful or inspiring. We’ll do lists of other kinds of books in future weeks, so stay tuned! Okay, here we go:

The Art of Description by Mark Doty

Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

On Writing by Stephen King

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

The Situation and the Story by Vivan Gornick

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

The Art of Time in Fiction by Joan Silber

Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters by Michael Tierno

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

What are your favorite books on writing?

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Sheila's taking a break in August, and rerunning some earlier posts. This post originally ran last May. Look for new posts to resume in September - but maybe some of these are new to you!

I ADORE the Gornick book, but a lot of writers don't because she can get downright ornery...lol. I think you and I must have very similar tastes, Sheila; all the books you listed are on my shelves. Thanks for the reminder that I need to dive into at least one of them each week to keep me on track. Sometimes, reading just a short segment is all the help I need.Linda Rehkopf, metro ATL